How to create your own DVD

[TechyGuy]

This vacations you might have planned something with your digital camcorder. You can anytime transform the images into a DVD with menus and chapters with Corel VideoStudio Pro X2.

The holidays are back, and you have the choice between luggage and dispose more motivating to watch the movie of your stay on your TV before you resume your daily life. Many camcorders have a handy video output to view its recordings on the big screen. But it remains the "DIY". We suggest you move to the next step: get your own movie!

From capture to editing

Some scenes filmed probably not worth the trouble to be preserved, others may deserve some minor. With little effort, you can consolidate your memories in a real video DVD with menus and chapters, all accompanied by music. And easily share them with your friends by burning copies. And as the commercial DVD, your discs can be viewed on any DVD player or a handheld device.

To achieve successive editing and DVD burning, we chose VideoStudio Pro X2 by Corel which can be accessible to all and the variety of accepted formats. The software is sold at $59.99 USD on Corel website and comes with many camcorder models allowing you to acquire images from DV camcorders, DVD, AVCHD or HDD.

The different stages of creation are symbolized on its interface with tabs, capturing video to save the project in different media, from course by the assembly. Mounting is possible in this box that will be the most work, i.e. embellish the film with numerous effects and correction tools available. It would be a shame to deprive them. VideoStudio also allows integrating a DVD slideshow of photos.

The videos, photos, music, transitions, filters, etc are carefully stored in libraries located in the upper right of the interface. You also have many options with which you can customize to your liking DVD menus.

[TechyGuy]

Important points to remember

The DVDs are not forever

The stripes, light, heat, moisture and fingerprints are all factors that reduce the wear life of these optical discs. According to a study by the National Laboratory of Metrology and Testing, the lifetime of a DVD-R or DVD + R is similar to that of a CD-R. After three years, 15% of these discs are therefore likely to become unreadable.

The brand of disc (including the layer of protective coating) and the drive used also affect their longevity. And the DVD rewritable type DVD-RW and DVD + RW media are considered more fragile although the manufacturers do not hesitate to announce, on boxes of blank DVDs, a lifespan of over a hundred of years! Although not a reliable medium to 100% in time, the DVD is still a medium of recording very useful things and at cheap cost.

As a precaution, you can keep a copy of your most expensive DVD on your hard drive or home server as ISO images. In case of reading problem, you can easily duplicate it. Creating disk image is a function proposed by VideoStudio Pro X2, like many burning software.

And the Blu-ray?

Do you have a standalone player i.e Blu-ray and HD television? Creating a high definition disc assumes that you use hardware and software compatibility throughout the manufacturing chain. Not only the camera but also the editing software and authoring must support the HD not to mention a Blu-ray.

Note that VideoStudio provides HD video editing and creation of Blu-ray. Another advantage of this software: the Smart Proxy feature that allows you to work with working copies, reduced resolution of your HD video files. History relieves your PC!

[TechyGuy]

How to mount the film

To begin, import the video of your vacation on the computer, cut it into sequences and create chapter marks from the future DVD.

1 - Connect your camcorder

First connect your DV camcorder to a power outlet and the USB or Firewire port of the computer. Close all software and disable the screen saver. This will prevent any interruption during the capture of the band and allocate all the system resources to VideoStudio throughout the design of the DVD. Also make sure you have enough free space on the hard disk. You have 200 MB for each minute of recording in DV format.

Start VideoStudio Pro X2. A splash screen appears. Check the box 16:9 at the bottom left of this menu if your host uses camcorder recording format. Also choose VideoStudio Editor to allow access to all software functions.

2 - Import all the clips

Select the Capture tab. Two modes are offered for import into the panel Options of video capture. Click Capture video if you want to import the entire movie without presorting. The settings Edit Video and DV must be selected in the dropdown Source and Format. Check the box Split by scene to split your recording into multiple sequences: you thus simplify the editing process. Place your DV tape to the place where it should start by helping you capture the Rewind and Forward buttons in the preview window of the software. The images from the camcorder are accelerated in VideoStudio.

Click the Play and Stop buttons to place accurately the DV tape to the desired location, and then click the link Capture Video to start capturing. The duration of the import is the time to read the tape. So when it comes to latest screen film footage, click Stop Capture. The scenes detected during this phase of capture are automatically inserted in the editor.

3 - Or choose only a few

Prefer DV Quickscan mode if you want to incorporate only some scenes filmed in your project. A wizard appears. Choose Edit Video and DV AVI in the drop-down lists and Device Capture Format. Place as before the DV tape to where to start capturing. Select the option Current position, pull down the Speed list and select Maximum Speed.

Click Start Search. The software scans fast band of your camcorder. The thumbnails appear in various scenes in the right pane of the wizard. Press Stop search when all the video recordings of your holidays were swept away. Click on a thumbnail, and then read the selected scene to read the corresponding video in the preview window. If you do not want to import, press Unmark the scene in the bottom of the window. Once completed Logging, press the Next button. A dialog box appears. Insert check box in the timeline to include the scenes in the editing and press OK to start importing your DV tape.

4 - Familiarize yourself with the editing

You now arrive at the Edit step giving access to the new workspace in which to mount your film. The different sequences were imported automatically inserted into the track's video editing suite. The latter occupies the entire bottom of the screen. To work more easily, reduce and enlarge as needed width of the timeline.

In the toolbar editing tool, click the Zoom In and Zoom Out magnifying glass. To move, drag the slider bar to scroll horizontally placed at the bottom of the chassis assembly. To have precisely one element, move the cursor to the timeline while looking through the images in the preview window. To change the order of scenes, left-click on a clip, drag it to the desired location in the video track and release the mouse button. If you want to get rid of a scene, select it and press the Delete key on your keyboard.

5 - Crop scene

Some tourists have approached too close to your goal? You will not, however, get rid of the entire clip. If they appear at the beginning or end of a scene, select it in the video track.

In the preview window, located above the seat assembly, drag the handles cut placed at both ends of the timeline to remove the beginning or the end of this scene.

6 - Remove several passages of a clip

To remove one or more passes in a scene, rather make a right click on it in the video track and select Multi-cut video from the context menu that appears. A new dialog box appears. Drag the cursor on the timeline, under the preview window, so as to define the beginning of the first pass to keep in the scene. Click the button "[". Place the cursor on the last image, and then press the button "]".

Do the same way on other parts to keep in the clip. Finally, click OK. All isolated passages appear as new scenes on the editing.

7 - Improve the quality of videos

If a record held under poor lighting conditions, all hope is not lost. Select the corresponding clip on the chassis assembly. Still in the Edit step, select the Video tab and click Color Correction. The corrections will appear automatically in the preview window. To restore natural colors to your images, select Adjust the white balance. Leave the option Auto activated, so that VideoStudio evaluates itself to adopt the settings.

To increase or decrease the tone of a clip, select the Auto Fit tones. Then, click the down arrow to the right, select one of five presets desired: they range from brighter than clear. Play with more freedom on the color and brightness of the clip by moving the slider next to the words Hue, Saturation, Brightness, Contrast and Gamma.

8 - Create chapters

As the DVD sold in the trade, your movie will be divided into chapters. It is your responsibility to indicate to the software location. Click on the tiny down arrow, placed in the top left of the chassis mounting point and select the chapter menu. Move the cursor to the timeline of the bench mounting hard left, then click the "+/-" to the left of the down arrow to mark the first scene of your movie as the first chapter. This is symbolized by a tiny yellow triangle on the timeline of the assembly bench.

Drag the right cursor on the timeline until the beginning of the scene you want to set as the start of the second chapter, then click the "+/-". Do the same for defining all other early chapters. To delete a chapter marker, drag it just on the video track or above the timeline.

[TechyGuy]

How to apply special effects

You can add a touch of originality to your installation playing on the transitions, overlays and video filters.

1 - Place transitions

To move smoothly from one scene to another use without moderation many transitions proposed by VideoStudio. To make them appear, select the Effects tab and choose a category. The transition appears in the preview window. To mount it, slide it between two clips on the video track. Each transition takes by default a second.

To change this term, click the transition in the video track and enter a new value in the Duration field. Most are eager to apply the same transition to all scenes. After right clicking the mouse on the desired transition, simply select Apply the effect to the current video track in the menu.

2 - Speed up and slow down clips

Why not speed up or slow down a few scenes to make them more fun or better to emphasize the movements of a person? To do this, select a sequence in the video track. Click Speed Reading in the Video tab. A new dialog box appears. Drag the slider to the left to speed up the stage or right to slow it down. Press Preview to view the scene with this new setting, click OK to confirm the change.

3 - Apply filters

You can play with video filters to give a different look to your sequences. For example, transform an old film. In the Edit step, select Video Filters, All in the dropdown gallery. Filters are appearing in the top right of the screen. Click on one of them to see an effect in the preview window. Drag it to a scene in the video track to apply to this clip. Press the Play button in the preview window to display the rendered scene with this filter.

To remove the filter, click the Attributes tab, select the filter and press the button-shaped cross. You can apply multiple filters at the same stage in the rolling over one after another.

4 - Insert a video

The video overlay is inserted in a sequence, another video clip that appears in a small rectangle. From the Edit step, select Video in the dropdown gallery to show different scenes imported during capture. On the editing, the runway overlay is placed below the video track. You'll slip the sequence to be inlaid so as to place it below the stage right now where it should appear.

In the preview window, change its dimensions by drawing with the mouse on the handles of the rectangle. The video is embedded by default in the center of the stage. You can change its location by dragging in the preview window. To move it to the screen during playback, click the Attributes tab. Select positions of entry and exit in the area Direction/Style to define its path of travel. Remember to remove the embedded scene of the video track so it does not appear twice in the film.

5 - Remove the background of the video embedded

Why not erase the part of the scene appearing behind the main subject in the embedded video? This trick allows you to add a more realistic a character in a second video, once the background disappeared. Here's how: always in the Attributes tab, click on mask and chroma key. Check Apply and then choose options overlap in the chroma key type list. Click on the eyedropper and select the color to make transparent the sticker located right in the Attributes tab.

You can also choose a form other than a rectangle to define the delimiter of the embedded video. Select Hide in this case the frame in the Type dropdown. Then, choose a mask among those proposed, like the leaves of trees for example.

[TechyGuy]

Dressing the film with text and sound

A picture is certainly worth a thousand words ... but background music, the written and spoken as well as generic are not superfluous to add an assembly.

1 - Insert your own tracks

VideoStudio allows you to insert an audio file in various formats, including MP3 and WMA. To do this, in Audio, click the icon to Download the audio file and then designate the location of your song on your hard drive. It appears in the library of audio clips at the top right of the screen. Click on the extract. In the Music and voice tab, adjust the volume and press the Play button in the preview window to check the new sound level.

Click on any two icons to the right of the button control volume to apply a fade effect at the beginning and end of your song (this effect will launch the music gradually increasing its volume). Drag the audio file on the Music track, located at the bottom of the chassis, so it starts at the same moment that the scene of the chapter or the slide must accompany it.

To reduce the length of a song too long, select the Music track. Then place the mouse cursor to the right end of the musical excerpt. When it turns sharply, left-click while moving the mouse to the left to where the piece will end.

2 - Enhance the image of audio commentary

To add your own voice, first connect a microphone to the sound input on your PC. Adjust the sound level in the Control Panel in Windows. In VideoStudio, place the cursor on the time scale of the assembly, where you want to start your comment.

In Audio, Music & Voice tab, click Save voice. Press the Start button on the dialog box that appears. Select Stop from the Music & Voice tab to stop recording. Your comment is automatically placed in the track Voices on the editing.

3 - Write a caption

To view a text a few moments in a scene, the name of a monument or a person for example, set the stage title. Select Title in the dropdown gallery. Select a template from the library. The animation will display in the preview window. Once a model you want, drag it onto the track title. Double-click the model in the editing. Double-click the default text in the preview window and replace it with the commentary of your choice.

From the Edit tab, you can change the font, size and font color and the length of a text display. You can also animate characters. In the Animation tab, check Apply the animation. Then choose a category of animation in the Type drop-down list, select a model. Press the Play button in the preview window to discover the result.

4 - Create generic start and end

Remember the generic start and end. Choose a model is still in the stage title, for example the scrolling text vertically. Place the model selected at the beginning of installation on the track title. Enter the text in the generic preview window. Repeat this for the end credits, but by placing this time at the end of the assembly.

[TechyGuy]

Creating a Slideshow

VideoStudio allows you to embed photos in the DVD as a slideshow. Fix them, choose transitions and background music without leaving the software.

1 - Upload your photos

After creating the slideshow, your DVD will be composed of two tracks: vacation videos and photos. Each title corresponds to a different project with VideoStudio. Choose Save As... from the File menu to save your video editing, then select New Project. Place in a folder on the hard disk the images for the slideshow. VideoStudio recognizes many image formats, including JPEG and TIFF.

Click on Edit, Gallery, Image and Load button on the image. Designate in the dialog box to locate your files on the hard disk. For multiple selection, click the first picture, hold down the Shift key and release it after selecting the last image. Click Open.

2 - Put your photos on the editing

In the picture library, select the first picture with the left button mouse, press the Shift key and click the last photo. Always with the left mouse button, drag the selection on the video track.

3 - Change the display time

In your slide show, each picture is displayed by default for three seconds. To apply a new term to display all your images, select them all, right click and context menu, select Change image time and enter it in seconds.

4 - Fix pictures

To straighten an image, select the first in the editing. Click the Picture tab. Rotate it 90 degrees left or right by clicking on one of two buttons symbolized by arrows. Press Color Correction to adjust white balance, color, brightness and contrast of images.

5 - Apply zooming effects

Add movement to your slideshow! To apply the same zoom effect to all images, select all your photos on the editing. Following a right click on your selection, select Pan and zoom feature in the menu. Each image will be displayed, then gradually enlarged to display the following example.

Next to that selection, zoom in or out is also applied to each image. To vary the effect is a bit longer. Select One by one your shots on the video track. In the Picture tab, click the button Pan and zoom ratio. Select an effect from drop-down list located directly below.

6 - Insert transitions

Adding transitions between two images is the same as for the video. You also have the same library of transitions. Click the Effect tab, select a group of transitions in the dropdown gallery. Drag the desired transition between the first two images. Place other transitions between each photo in your slideshow.

7 - Add background music

To add background music, import your audio file in the software and place, as we saw in step 3 on the track Music bench mounting. Note that you can enhance your slide show captions and audio commentary. Save your project, once everything is finished. This file corresponds to the staging of your images in VideoStudio and is unusable without this software. In other words, it is not yet the film itself.

[TechyGuy]

Finalize your DVD

The project is near to completion. It is time to address the creation of menus before going to stage the final print. Not to mention the jacket ...

1 - Run the DVD Wizard

Open the project in VideoStudio dedicated to editing your video and click the Share tab. Choose Create and select the disc in the DVD combo. The DVD Wizard appears. It will guide you through the entire design of your DVD burning included. Your video editing is shown as a thumbnail in the bottom left corner of the wizard. Right-click on the right of the thumbnail and choose Insert VideoStudio project files in the Project menu. Here we add the slideshow in the film.

Remember: you've placed the video editing and slideshow in two different projects, for simplicity. If VideoStudio does work on one project at a time, it is possible to add multiple projects when creating the DVD. Designate the project on your slideshow on your hard drive and click the OK button in order to integrate it into your DVD-Video. A gauge at the bottom of the window of the wizard shows the place of your project on a blank DVD 4.7 GB (4.3 GB). A disk of this capacity can store approximately two hours of film.

If space is still insufficient, opt for a dual-layer disc. Select to make this DVD 8.5 G in the combo instead of DVD 4.7 G. Select the display ratio 16:9 or 4:3 to your disk. Finally click the Next button at the bottom left of the wizard.

2 - Choose a menu template

Your video editing and your slideshow will be the two DVD titles, accessible from the main menu. A sub-menu will present the various chapters set in the first step. Select the Gallery tab of the wizard and choose All from the dropdown list to show all menu templates. Nearly a hundred types are offered. Click on a thumbnail to view the menu template in the preview window.

3 - Customize your menu

Once you have chosen your model, click the Edit tab to add your personal touch to your menus. The preview window displays the main menu of your DVD. Double-click the text displayed for editing. Select a text field and press Settings to change font, among others, the color and font size. To quickly change the arrangement of the menu items, the easiest is to click on Customize and then select Layout from the drop-down list.

Then choose a template layout. Instead, select Frame from the list box to change the form of thumbnails. Click OK to save your changes. Select your chapter menu in the drop-down list of currently displayed menu to customize it. It appears in the preview window. Depending on the number of chapters of your DVD, the menu may be composed of one or more screens. Use the playback buttons in order to view them one by one to change them.

4 - Put a picture in the background menu

Select from the drop-down list, your menu titles or the chapters. In Section Image/video background, click the rectangle button and choose from the menu Select an image background for the menu. Designate on the hard drive location of the image you want in your main menu.

You can also select a video to "dress" your menus. Click the tiny button to the right of the title picture/video background to stretch the image so it fills the entire space of your menu.

5 - Animate menus

The static menus are not very attractive! Check Menu animation. The duration of the animation default is 20 seconds. Specify the desired duration in the Duration field and click Customize.

Select a zoom and move in the combo Pan and zoom and/or animation filter in the Filter list of animation. They will be applied to the background of your menu. Click successively on the Start menu button and End menu to apply an animation when displaying a menu and the transition to the next menu. Remember to apply your animations to menus and chapter titles.

6 - Add background music

In the section with background music, click the button decorated with a musical note. Simply designate the location of the music on your hard drive. Choose or not to different songs to your menu and titles of the chapters.

7 - Set navigation buttons

You can replace the navigation buttons to your menu of chapters. In the Edit tab, press Customize. At the bottom of the new window, choose a template button in the top ten proposed.

You can change the button size and location in the preview window. Click OK to finish.

8 - Preview DVD-Video menus

Want to know what your menu will look like once the DVD inserted in a drive show? VideoStudio offers a valuable tool: a virtual remote control that mimics the basic functions of a Zappetti drive DVD players. It appears in the preview window of the wizard. Check the box Pre-make the menu. Press the Play button on the remote.

Using the arrow directional pad, select a menu item then press the center button of the keypad to activate it. Top Menu button on the remote control returns to the main menu of the DVD and the Menu button for menus Chapter or Title as appropriate. If the result does not suit you, click Back to change it.

9 - Burn DVD-Video

Once satisfied, click Next. Insert a blank disc into the drive. Normalize check box to adjust the volume of video editing. Warning: this function does not apply to slideshows. Press the Burn button. Allow about two hours, the time required for encoding video and copy data.

To save an ISO image of your project, click the button to the right recording format, then check the box Create a disk image.

10 - Install CD DVD Label Maker

As VideoStudio does not offer utility to create the cover of your DVD, we will use CD DVD Label Maker. Download this free software on the site of its publisher and install it. From the Home screen, choose a model adapted to the housing cover of your DVD and click OK.

11 - Include a picture

Click Open and designate the location of the image that illustrates your jacket. Click on the picture in the preview window.

Move the handles placed on the edges of the photo to resize or drag to change its position on the jacket. The Crop button allows you to crop the original image.

12 - Customize and print jacket

Enter a title for your DVD in the Title field Specify 1 in the left pane of CD DVD Label Maker and click the button to the right. A dialog box prompts you to specify font, size, style and color. Click on the title in the preview window and drag it to the desired location on your jacket. Enrich it from other texts in the fields numbered from 2 to 6 in the left pane of the software.

Checkboxes Print cut lines and Print fold lines can add borders or not! These options are however available on some models. Click to launch the Print dialog box, and then press Properties to change some print settings, such as orientation and paper type or quality. Finally run printing. Your project is now complete.